


Beneath the City

by rainsonata



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28817175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainsonata/pseuds/rainsonata
Summary: It’s already weird talking to a younger version to yourself. It’s even weirder knowing that they look up to you and Lunatic Psyker isn’t sure if he can handle that kind of pressure on him. He and Psychic Tracer search for spare machine parts when they were attacked by nasods.





	Beneath the City

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr.

“Wow, an underground laboratory!”

It was a wonder it was still standing beneath Elder after scavenging it many times with his counterparts. The endless material it offered made it useful when Psyker was out of parts needed for his recent projects, which was why he was here today. Going alone wasn’t an issue, so he was surprised to learn that Psych wanted to come along with the eagerness of a puppy. This being Psych’s first time seeing it, it was natural to hear the tracer’s surprise of its existence.

As long as Psych stayed close to him, he had no issue letting his younger self follow him to what has become a glorified junk yard with punchable minions. Psyker wouldn’t have brought Psych if he thought it was too dangerous. He had faith that the tracer would know how to avoid getting hit by stronger enemies. If not…well, that was what the trip was for, a learning experience and maybe a few new battle scars to prove himself worthy. 

They stayed at the entrance for easy access to an exit if security was heavier than usual. It appeared that the facility was just as quick to fix their fallen security nasods as soon as someone knocked them down. Having their power source limited to the core of the building however limited them to that area, so there was no worry on if it planned on invading the city as it did before, or at least Psyker hoped so. With precise aim, he demonstrated a Quake Buster on a security nasod that sent its wrecked limbs flying across.

“Don’t act like you can’t do that either,” Psyker said when he caught Psych gasping at his display of power. “I’ve seen you do it.” 

“Yes, but your Nasod Armor enhanced it.” Psych’s chatter bounced around the confines of the laboratory. He beamed, “The way it formed around your body made you stronger and faster reflexes to hit before it sees you!”

“It’s not just the Nasod Armor.” He looked away, “It’s still not perfect.”

Not yet. 

Psych’s praises turned him pink with pride, but his emotions were mixed with embarrassment when the tracer looked at him like he just dismantled one of Elysion’s highest nasods. It was already bizarre acknowledging that he could interact with a younger version of himself, although at this point, Psych’s future was likely deviating from his. No, what was strange was that for the first time, Psyker feel unsure of himself, an anomaly when he spent years knowing what kind of person he was and what he wanted.

Being with Psych made the brawler gain sudden awareness in all the things he said and did. When did he start worrying about how people viewed him? He didn’t have that sort of patience or concern when around the younger members from Elgang, was it because he was afraid of how acting around Psych would affect the tracer? It has only been a few months and Psych was already picking up his speech pattern and tried dressing like him.

“Psyker!”

Too late to rely on his reflex, he only had time to look up to see a nasod swing its bulky arms at his direction.

Getting hit by one of the smaller nasods, how pathetic. There were more of them, maybe three or four. Perhaps he gave Wally too little credit in working with nasods that he had the luck to be placed with one of his creations yet again. He never did learn his lesson about meddling with idiots, did he? He should have been able to avoid getting hit, but he was caught up in his own train of thoughts that he let his guard down. What a fool he was. 

With the help of Dynamo, Psych launched himself into the air to grab him by the hand and threw him over his shoulder. Psyker grunted in surprise, but it was enough for him to do a flip in the air before landing on his own set of dynamos. Electricity charged at his fingertips when a blur of black and purple storm past him. What was Psych doing?

Psyker opened his mouth to yell at the boy for being stupid when he heard Psych cursing. The Psychic Tracer was shoved across the floor by the nasod as soon as he approached it, tears threatening to fall when he growled.

“I’ll make you regret that,” Psych bit down his lips in anger. “Eat dust!”

Activating the incomplete Nasod Armor and enveloping himself with static, Psych threw himself back at the nasods with a series of punches and kicks that barely left a dent on them. Energy blasted from the tracer’s dynamos when he saw that physical brutality didn’t work, unfazed on facing a stronger enemy. The tracer laughed when they failed to hit him with a big blast of lasers until changing their minds and setting off homing missiles. His smile wavered to an alarmed expression when Psyker had enough of this foolishness and stepped in between them to divert the nasods’ attention to himself.

His dynamos protected their user like a shield when the missiles hit Psyker, sending them spinning across the room to hit the other nasods that were unfortunate to get in the way. Hmph, that would cut some work and free scrap metal for them. Plasma surrounded him as Psyker forced the nasod into a tunnel to hold it, charging forward with punches and kicks before pulling it back and away from Psych.

While it was stunned, he turned to check on Psych and saw that the kid was had scratches and a couple of opened wounds bleeding out. This wasn’t a safe place to wrap his wounds. The nasod should be almost at its limits. He gave it a final kick from behind and watched it fall over as it exploded. He pulled Psych to the side to wrap his arms around the tracer to shield him from the explosion, letting the dust and debris hit him. They needed to leave before security decided to reassemble themselves in their presence. 

They resurfaced from the underground laboratory to rest at the outskirts of Elder. Psyker let the tracer rest underneath a tree with his back leaning against the trunk with his face scrunched up from the pain.

“I’m dressing your wounds.” Psyker said with firmness that stopped Psych from arguing back.

Rubbing alcohol and bandage wraps were the first thing he searched for in his bag. He had his own fair share of injuries from fighting tougher enemies, which showed when he expertly clean and dressed Psych’s wounds without much thought. Psych said nothing when Psyker asked him for his other arm once he was done with the first one. The tracer had wounds on his legs and back too.

Why did he let Psych tag along? If he was by himself, he had only himself to blame and perhaps be angry at himself for a few scratches and bruises. Psych wasn’t like Mastermind or Esper, who had years to develop their weapons and have a better understanding on how to fight stronger enemies. Psych was weaker in comparison and had an incomplete Nasod Armor that didn’t leave beyond a scratch mark on the enemies earlier.

Because of his reckless behavior, Psych was hurt and it was his fault. The tracer should have looked up to Mastermind instead of him. At least Psych could trust Mastermind to be careful and always have his drones out to look out for potential danger. Psyker wasn’t as cautious and always rushed into battle to finish them off. It looked like Psych wasn’t so different from him and did the same, except unlike him, he couldn’t afford to do at his current experience level. 

“We didn’t make it to the core.”

It was the first word that came out of Psych since they left Wally’s Underground Laboratory. The crazed look in his eyes from the fight inside the facility was gone, replaced by a somber one with the tracer straightening his back to look at Psyker. 

Psyker shook his head, “No, we didn’t.”

They didn’t even pass the entrance to be greeted with more security and crossbow archers inside. Perhaps that was for the best. Even he didn’t appreciate dodging their arrows in hopes for a few scraps of metal if he was lucky. 

Psyker checked to make sure he didn’t miss bandaging a spot and asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Like hell,” Psych mumbled. “It hurts when I move my arms.” He rotated his wrists and ankles to crack them, but winced when he twisted his arms to test them out. 

“Then don’t,” a curt smile formed on Psyker’s lips as he chuckled. “Just focus on healing and let’s get out of here.”

Expecting Psych to protest, he wasn’t surprised when the tracer tried standing up by planting his hands into the grass to push himself up. The brawler almost yanked his arm back down until he remembered that the kid had a bandaged arm.

He blocked the tracer from moving by placing his hands back down and growled, “We’re going home. Now. We’re done today.”

“Teach me how to fight.” Psych said with pleading eyes. “I want to be strong like you.”

“No, you don’t,” Psyker scoffed.

Was failing to pull out Psych in time to avoid injuries not enough to convince the tracer to avoid becoming him? Psyker was almost frustrated how starry eyed his younger self was with him. Maybe he was exaggerating because he wasn’t used to being in the spotlight, but it made him nervous. If he failed to live up to Psych’s expectations, he wouldn’t just disappoint the tracer, but himself too.

“Nasod Armor has human limits,” the brawler said. “You have to watch what you eat and keep your body in shape, or else it will fall apart. I’ve seen you stuff your face with chocolate with Arc. If you want to live that kind of life, go ask Mastermind how to code AI.” 

“I’m not going to become like that nerd, Arc.” The tracer glared at him, “I’m doing this my way.”

“Why do you want to be like me?”

Wanting to be strong… The brat really was him, Psyker closed his eyes with distress. Not only was he foolhardy, but stubborn too. If he was anything like him, he could take a gander to his reasons. After all, they were the same person, weren’t they? It was strange that he was becoming more accepting of that concept over time. 

Taken back by his question, Psych wasn’t as quick to answer as before. He looked at his bandaged arms and frowned, knowing that he wasn’t going to be fighting or training for the next few days. 

“You always look like you know what you’re doing,” Psych said. “Everything you do is calculated and you never doubt yourself. Your Nasod Armor still has room to improve, but it’s almost perfect. You can go anywhere you want because you have nothing to be afraid of. I want all of that.”

His answer had Psyker’s eyes widen. Was that how Psych viewed him? He was careful to paint a facade as an aggressive brawler, but was astonished to learn how efficient it was. All of that self doubt and loath for himself, it did exist, but he fought to keep it hidden away from outsiders. Never again did he want someone to see him as the weak kid who wandered Elrios aimless without a path or resolution. 

“Psych,” he sighed and placed his hand on the tracer’s shoulder. “I do get scared. There are things out there that can crush us like ants, so we always have to train to get stronger. I’m still don’t know what I’m doing and neither do most of Elbrat and his friends.” 

Psyker watched Psych’s shoulders slouch in learning the truth, but the other frowned, “But you’re also nice, like when you let me come with you today. Arc told me Mastermind promised to help him with his codes and Esper sometimes help Time, so I thought you could do the same.”

Now Psyker was the one speechless. It looked like he was wrong in thinking he knew everything Psych. Strength wasn’t the sole factor in having interest for him. He scratched the back of his head with embarrassment of being praised again. 

“Is that so?” He saw Psych nod and mused, “I suppose a little training can’t hurt. We’ll have to work on your posture first. Those cute little punches and kicks aren’t going to work if you do that to every enemy we meet.”

“Hey!” Psych protested, but laughed when Psyker helped him up to walk.

Their trip back home was going to be a long one, but that wasn’t a bad thing. That meant more time listening in to Psych telling him the time he and the other tracers were stuck in Bethma because of the lizardmen or when he encountered the nasods in Altera. It was entertaining watching how animated the tracer was, always waving his hands back and forth as he talked.

Despite the age differences between them being a mere year apart, seeing a less experienced version of himself made him nostalgic, or maybe it was another emotion. It was an emotion he recognized between Elbrat and his sister, the redhead. 

Being an only child, he always held his parents’ full attention more often than not. Now that there was someone who looked up to him and even relied on him, Psyker wondered if this was how it felt to have a little brother. They were the same person, but yet he was protective of him when he was injured as if he was a blood relative.

 _Huh_ , Psyker rubbed his forehead. How interesting. 


End file.
